E. S. Miller Packing Co., a Montgomery, Ill., establishment is recalling approximately 219 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The products subject to recall include:

10-pound Cryovaced bags of bulk "EDWARD S. MILLER PACKING CO., GROUND BEEF." Each bag bears the establishment number "EST. 34342" inside the USDA mark of inspection and case codes of "070709," "070809," "070909" or "071009."

12- and 15-pound boxes "EDWARD S. MILLER PACKING CO., GROUND BEEF PATTIES." Each box bears the establishment number "EST. 34342" inside the USDA mark of inspection and case codes of "070709," "070809," "070909" or "071009."

Fortunately, the recall is small, and the limited distribution of the recalled products should allow quick product retrieval by E. S. Miller Packing Co.  The FSIS website notice of the recall also indicates that the recalled ground beef products were produced from July 7, 2009, through July 10, 2009, and were distributed to consumers and several local restaurants in the Montgomery and Paw Paw, Ill., areas, located in northern Illinois. 

As we usually find ourselves saying in these outbreak and recall situations, it would be nice (for all involved, from customers to manufacturers) to know precisely where the recalled meat went, not just that it went to "several local restaurants" in "northern Illinois."  Hopefully, at the very least, the E.S. Miller company knows exactly where those products went and has already completed its round of phone calls informing customers who received potentially contaminated product.